Bullets and Kunai
by Auster Nab
Summary: Secret and anceint, Shinobi were nothing but a legend, an old myth about power hungry criminal syndicates. They were blur in history, nevered remembered yet never forgotten. When an abadoned orphan, Naruto Uzumaki, stumbles upon the underground world of Shinobi, He'll raise hell itself to join them and become the best criminal the world has ever seen, all while evading the Uchicha
1. prologue

**MAFIA-** An organized international body of criminals, using extortion and other criminal methods, a group powerful or influential group in an organization or field.

**Shinobi**- A person skilled in ninjutsu, the ancient art of the ninja shadow warriors, hired for covert purposes ranging from espionage to sabotage and assassination.

Prologue- For Better or for Worse

The Sage of Six Paths sat on a hill overlooking the small village. His eyes were ripples, a deep purple shade, and were clouded over in deep thought. A frown graced his tired face, and he thought of the past and where he presently was. He preached peace but the world knew only war. Bloodshed was the norm, and new wars were waged every other day, and not even his teachings or powers could stop the evil in man's hearts. He sat there old and broken, wondering if this world could be saved, and if he'd live to see it?

XXX

Shadows leapt from tree to tree as dark clouds rolled in, a blood red moon shining down, sparing no extra light in the dire situation. Arashi Namikaze leapt from tree to tree, with his half-conscience nephew clinging desperately to his tattered and bloody armor.

"Hold on Naruto, whatever you do, don't let go!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, the creeping shadows gaining ever swiftly. The tree canopy of the forest was growing darker and darker as the moon continued to rise. Sound Ninja were advancing, kunai holsters at the ready, leading the charge was a dark figure with pericing green eyes and a mask covering his lower face. The figure wore an equally tattered, but not as bloody, cloak with red clouds gracing the fabric. Kakuzu commanded his swarm of sound shinobi, "Don't let them escape, I want that man's head!" If Arashi heard the deadly command, he paid it no mind, he was so close, he could taste it. All that mattered right now was getting Naruto to safety, for that he would gladly die. Kunai whizzed past him and one grazed his cheak. Bloody dripped down from the shallow wound, but Arashi's pace never faultered. Naruto was weeping quietly, "Uncle, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he cried into the man's shoulder. "Hehe, what's that for," his uncle joked at a time like this, jumping from tree to tree as the forest behind them was engulfed in a crimson flame.

The fire was curtesy of a nightmarish monster with a tiger masked, protruding from Kakuzu's back, further ripping his cloak. Arashi and Naruto, along with the sound shinobi raced to escape the embers. Naruto was terrified and only wept harder, "I'm sorry, it's my fault," a shuriken zipped past him, scratching his side, "Ah!" Naruto yelled in pain. "Naruto!" Arashi exclaimed, "Naruto listen," he desparetly tried to calm the child as his strength was fading quickly. The trees finally opened up and Arashi landed in the middle of a clearing.

He was about to take off again, hoping the Shushin could get him and his young charge to where they needed to be, but before he could move, they were upon him. Surrounded by the enemy, Kunai rained down from the heaven. Naruto screamed in terror and awaited the sharp pain he had assciated with kunai, but it never came. Suprised Naruto opened his eyes, that he didn't realize he'd shut. Arashi was laing over him dozens of the sharp knives protuding in his back. Blood oozing out his mouth, he could only whisper to Naruto, the boy he loved so, "Naruto, You'll… ugh; you'll have to be a big boy. Can you do that?" Naruto could only nod in stunned silence, he didn't trust his mouth to move. Arashi could only smile at the seven year old underneath hs diying body, "Naruto...my favorite thing in the world is ramen, really good ramen." he wheezed. Naruto didn't say anything, time seemed at a stand still, it was only him and his uncle. "Life can be a lot like ramen; those bad things that happen in life are like those three minutes you have to wait for the ramen to cool... and... and the good things are like when the ramen is finally ready." Naruto could only weep, not understanding what his uncle was saying. "Yeah, ramen with Naruto, those were the good things...He's a strong boy..." Arashi's eyes finally dimmed, leaving Naruto alone with a swarm of a cruel enemy.

"Uncle?" Naruto whispered, tears pouring down his cheaks, as rain finally started to fall. "No... No! UNCLE ARASHI!" Naruto screamed as the sound shinobi charged forward. In that moment a cruel, firery essence exploded around Arashi's corpse. A blinding light extended over the entire clearing covering every living thing. And in an instant it was gone. And not a single thing was left alive. It wasn't until the next day when local authorities found a lost, wondering and confused boy, not remembering anything of what had happened. The boy was covered in blood, not an once of it his.


	2. Chapter 1 rain

Chapter 1- Rain

Rain fell upon a young man's face as he sat, looking up at the swirling storm clouds above. The rain washed the dirty away from his features, exposing the whisker like scars on his cheeks. He sat there having no place to go; he just let the rain pour down on him. Naruto Uzumaki was having another bad day.

He had another nightmare, and though he was much too old, he wished someone would comfort him after the fact. But that would never happen, he hadn't seen his family since he was six, and he would sit there, much like he was doing, and cry, cry 'cause it was all unfair'.

Naruto had long since stopped crying, it was a waste of time and energy, in his opinion. No one cared when he was sad anyway, and except for the nice father-daughter ramen stand, Naruto was not welcomed most places. Home was cold and lonely and school wasn't much better. Felling alone, he got up off the wet and dirty ground, his worn clothes ruined, and walked in the direction towards the city.

The wind blew and thunder sounded in the distance, another stormy day in the city. Naruto smiled, the wind was always a comfort; the cool air stung his skin. He was hungry, ramen was sounding pretty good right about then. He thought of the smell, the warmth, not just from the soup but from the simple kindness. That kindness made his bad day a little brighter. Suddenly feeling much hungrier than before, Naruto picked up the pace, already forgetting about the rain.


	3. Chapter 2 Fairy Tale

Chapter 2- Fairy Tale

Ayame walked to the kitchen to put away the dirty dishes; personally she was relieved to be out of the prying eye of that old man who had stopped in for a bit. She wanted to deck him one good one across the cheek, but her dad would fire her for sure if she were to attack a customer, even if he was a pervert.

Just then the bell rang, signaling another customer and she had a sneaking suspicion of who it could be. "Hey! Ayame! I'm starved, you here?" Naruto's voice rang through the tiny ramen shack, giving everyone an ear ache. "Naruto! Shut up, will you, this is a place of business and no can enjoy their meal, WITH YOU SCREAMING!" yelled Ayame, yanking on Naruto's ear in a scolding manner.

"B-b-but Ayame no one's here but you and me," Naruto whimpered. "Oh," Ayame blushed, embarrassed, but quickly looked around and seeing no one sitting where the perverted old man was supposed to be, she shrugged it off. She frowned, however, when she found no tip. "Anyway Ayame, I'll have one super sized miso ramen to go please. If I'm late for curfew again the landlord will never let me hear the end of it." Ayame smiled at their best customer, the once broken six year old boy who her old man found begging for some food.

"Of course, Naruto, I'll have it ready in a minute, why don't you wait patiently on the stool." Naruto complied while stifling a yawn, his wet shoes squeaked on the wood floor of the shack. "Slow day?" Naruto asked trying to make conversation. "Kinda, just a few take-out orders and an old man," she called from the kitchen. Naruto glancing around the bar and was surprised to find a tattered comic book lying on the stool besides him.

He picked it up and opened the cover to see an inscription. _'The world is a vast and dangerous place, filled to the brim with evil and wickedness. The ones who control this evil, control the fear, and thus control the land. It is said that the evil and good must do battle for peace but this is a fool's theory, in reality it's all shades of gray. That's the first lesson we must learn…" _ Naruto squinted, there was more in the inscription but it was illegible. He flipped the comic book back around to the cover, _'__Tale of an Utterly Gutsy Ninja__.'_ Naruto, raising an eyebrow at the shitty comic book, called out to Ayame, "Hey, Ayame is this book yours?" Ayame called back "What book?"

Naruto pocketed the comic book, "Never mind, how's the ramen coming?" Ayame rolled her eyes as she prepared the doggie bag for her blonde friend. "Alright Naruto, here," handing him the to-go bag, Naruto paid and got up to leave. "Come back anytime, Naruto, don't be a stranger" she called after him, as he walked out into the storm.

It took him an hour to get back home, the streets were deserted but the storm made visibility at an all time low. When he finally got home, Naruto quickly undressed and slurped down his soup. It was late and he was sleepy, getting in bed Naruto remembered the comic from earlier. Grabbing it he climbed into bed. With his ramen safely in his tummy, he turned to the middle of the story, never one to start from the beginning, and began to read...

"_You people should stop, give up, I won't let you hurt this village, understand." The scared ninja, wearing a shirt and tie, holding a single kunai, leaned against a tree. _As Naruto read this he had to stop himself. He couldn't help but giggle. Shinobi were fairly tales, ones he ease dropped on many times, stories drunk, old people would spout at the ramen stand, from their childhood, some more inebriated folks claiming to have seen one before it vanished into thin air. Just scary stories about warriors or assassins, others were spies, sometimes it was exorcists and magicians, or even priests, gods, but they were all fighters. So why was a shinobi, a master of stealth, wearing a shirt and tie in a forest. It all confused Naruto but he had to admit, in his head it was a good look, one for a badass.

Anyway, he continued to read, _"Give up… Give up?" the masked samurai in a snow colored battle suit with a katana drawn at the ready started laughing. "You, a pathetic little shinobi, defeat me? You're almost as bad as that old bald geezer, the one who smoked a lot," The ninja remained quiet as his opponent ranted. "Your family and your boss are weak, your techniques are laughable and this village will be ash in no time," the white samurai smirked, "and it'll start with your death!" He lunged, the ninja just sighed. He side stepped his opponent and lashed out at the samurai's gut._

_The wind was knocked out of him as he tumbled backward out of the tree tops. The infamous white samurai waited for impact but none came. He looked up to see that he was suspended in midair. "W-w-what is this! What is this sorcery?" The nameless ninja sighed again, "If you had shut up for a moment and opened your eyes, what would you have seen?" The samurai remained quiet, until yelping out in pain, something was cutting his arm. Then he saw it; it was thin, almost invisible but still there. Wire, wire everywhere, from the tree tops all the way to the ground."W-wires?" the samurai whispered. "BINGO!" he exclaimed, "Now give up, and it ends." _

_But the katana wielding warrior wouldn't accept defeat and though the wires cut through him, he violently slashed his way out. "Never, shinobi scum, even if you, by some miracle, defeat me there will be another and another to come destroy you and that impotent band of rebel trash you call ninja! GIVE UP, GIVE UP! HAHAHA," the white samurai laughed crazily. All the while the shinobi remained quiet, a slight breeze blowing his black tie, messing it up.' Trash? Give Up?' he thought to himself. He smiled slightly and whispered loud enough for his opponent to hear, "Never. You should give up… on me giving up." The samurai froze when his gaze met the shinobi's, it was the end. The ninja held up a tiger hand seal to summon charka, with a sad, dark expression. "__Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu," he yelled as he breathed a blue flame into the form of a grand dragon, roaring to life, __twisting angrily in the air before rushing towards the weakened samurai warrior, trailing down the wire. The attack exploded, causing a great plume of smoke to rise into the atmosphere, and reducing the white samurai to ash. _

_It was over, the shinobi turned and leapt through the forest, the attack was bound to be spotted. It was overkill, in reality a simply kunai would have sufficed, however…. The samurai had made a grave error, he called his ninja family trash and scum, and though they shared relations only through bond and not blood, it was more than enough for him, no one messed with his family…._

Naruto sat there, refusing to stop reading, until the wee hours of the night, but he still found himself hooked. The young boy let his imagination run wild to worlds of adventure and danger as he drifted off to a deep and uninterrupted sleep.

XXX

The rain had stopped, the wind died down, and the storms clouds glided slowly in the sky. Naruto yawned, and pulling on his dirty clothes for the day. Deciding he rather not take a freezing shower he walked out the door and out onto the busy street, no one attempted to stop him and for the moment Naruto was free.

School wasn't in the cards, and he had no other place to go, so he would wonder. As Naruto walked through the suburbs and the outskirts of the city, he was alone with his thoughts.

Naruto was never one for mediating, especially on the past, but none the less, he let his mind drift. He thought of the kids at the orphanage, he'd watch them as they grew and left while he stayed, the park where he try to play but never made any friends, school where he was a dead last, a dope, in all his classes.

He'd sit on a swing set in the park, just watching the families walk by, happy and ignorant to his existence. He never really thought of his old family, he couldn't remember very well, he didn't know if he had any cousins or siblings, and if they were doing well, or what they were even like, not that it mattered.

They weren't there… the authorities had made that perfectly clear when he was seven and would try to escape the interrogation room to go find them. They had left him there and hadn't looked back. All Naruto remembered of his old life was a women's laugh and a few warm smiles but not a lot more. He had always wondered why? But he thought he rather not know the answer, "I don't know what I did…" he sat down on the same swing in the park, as the breeze drifted by, cooling Naruto in the warm mid-morning sun. He clenched the swing's chain, "and I don't care, I'll just have to make my own way, and forget this city," he stood up suddenly, rattling the rusty chains, his reserve showing on his face, "The world will know the name… Uzumaki Naruto." He said aloud, "That's a promise."

With his determination set in motion, Naruto decided it was finally time to eat. Running in the direction of his future ramen as fast he could, Naruto tried his best to weave in and out of the busy streets of the city. Not looking where he was going he crashed into something, falling on his ass, "Owe, shit that smarts." He rubbed his wounded his rear. "The hell Man!" a burly voice called to him. Three nasty looking teenage boys, piercings and tattoos littered their bodies, glared up at Naruto.


	4. Chapter 3 hope in books

Naruto tasted blood. He wasn't expecting the bully's right hook to hurt so much and he really wasn't expecting his reaction. After the older boy had hit him he hit back, knocking the boy back a good few feet, it was impressive to say the least. To the bully's credit, however, he was back on his feet in a matter of seconds. Backed by his friends, the bully, cradling his quickly swelling check, pulled out his knife. "What now," he asked smugly before he lunged. Naruto side stepped, barely dodging the older boy's stab. Left with only one option, Naruto turned and ran.

Naruto sprinted down alley after alley. The other boys were closing in him, and they were pissed. "Get the little bastard," yelled a particular fierce looking boy who Naruto could only presume as the leader of the little trio. Naruto continued to run until he felt a sharp sting behind him. He felt blood trickle down his back, one of the boys had thrown a rock, hitting him square in the shoulder. Naruto stumbled forward. He tried to retrieve his stride but it was too late. The trio was on him, pinning him to the ground. They continued their onslaught for what seemed like hours. Naruto screamed, struggled, and tried to fight back but it was useless. Sirens sounded in the distance, forcing the trio to finally relent and flee the scene.

XXX

Fugaku walked briskly down the hall of the Uchiha police station with a stake of files to his office. He sighed; he was stretching himself thin again. Mikoto wouldn't be happy, their children, Itachi and Sasuke, would be busy with projects and school advents and what not, and would need their parents there for help, plus Minato had called again but he missed it. Mikoto was busy at City Hall, and he need to get this paper work done.

Shikaku Nara waited patiently for his partner in their office, anything to avoid his nagging wife, troublesome… Fugaku finally walked in and set the paper work on the desk. They both sat down and got to work. Bank robberies and break-ins down town had been appearing with no signs of struggles, and the serve lack of evidence disturbed the local Uchiha police, especially Fugaku. "How is it possible? The only evidence is the fact that the money or valuable items are missing."

"No idea, the whole process is too troublesome for me: no struggles, no evidence of a break in, no security tape footage, no nothin'." Shikaku shrugged and Fugaku pinched the bridged of his nose. "It's almost like magic," Shikaku said. Fugaku cocked an eyebrow, then smirked, "yeah, magic." He was getting a headache and jokes like that only helped a little.

At that moment Inabi and Tekka Uchiha knocked on the door, "Sir, we had a break in on Twelfth Avenue and kaze drive," Inabi said, "We have already sent several cruisers to investigate the scene now, sir," added Tekka. Fugaku nodded, and waved them out so he and Shikaku could follow. He was frustrated but he would find the culprit, if not for him, then for the sake of his family, after all, the Uchiha had a reputation to uphold.

XXX

Naruto was sore as hell. His assailants could not have been rougher on his tiny body. The beat and broke him and quite frankly, in Naruto's opinion, it hurt like a mother. By the time he felt well enough to pick himself up off the ground it was dark outside. Hobbling over to the alley wall Naruto riffled through his jacket pockets. Pulling out an old cigar lighter with the red swirl on it, the same as his worn black jacket, he lit it.

After a few sparks Naruto had light. He held it up looking for some form of shelter. To his surprise he found an adjacent door along the wall and after prying it open he limped into the darkness. Using the lighter Naruto saw columns and columns of books in the glimmer. "Figures," he whispered to himself, "I get my ass handed to me and then wind up in a fricken library." He didn't know what he was doing, never actually being in the library before, but it was better than his cold room any day, so he continued onward, out of the back storage room. One would never have known from the back, but the library was huge. Naruto wondered all around in the dim light, how was he supposed to find anything that would be of any interest to him?

Hours of mere wonderings had Naruto bored, he wanted to read something, with his luck he'd never get this chance to read so much again but he needed to choose wisely, no boring, educational crap.

The more he thought about it, the more Naruto wanted to read a shinobi book, like the one he found. Naruto had finished it, and was disappointed, mainly because there was no real ending; a mere '_to be continued_' had left Naruto fluming. He wanted one with a better ending, or just an ending.

Naruto went to reception, he momentarily thought of using the computer to search for a shinobi book, maybe a fairytale section? But he wouldn't know any of the passwords, and he also wouldn't know where to start looking. Naruto sighed; it was getting really late and was probably time to go home, if one could really call it that.

As he walked past reception, through a couple shelves, and back through the storage room, he ended up tripping over something. Looking down, Naruto saw it was a block of wood, putting his lighter closer for a better look, he found it to be a cellar door. Naruto heaved it open and it creaked, showing nothing but stairs downward. Naruto, being able to kill a little more time, followed them down.

Walking for two minutes, the cellar was surprisingly deep. Walking until he came to a door, Naruto looked at it curiously. It was a tall door in the dark narrow hallway that had been the cellar, with red markings, something was written on it but Naruto couldn't make it out.

Knocking, just be safe, the moment Naruto knocked on to the door, it creaked open. Stepping inside, there were few flickering lights on the ceiling, ones that lit instantaneously as the blonde boy walked past. No more need for his lighter, Naruto pocketed it and walked forward. He trailed down the corridor until finally reaching the end, a dank, dusty little supply closet. Naruto was tired and sore, but he shrugged it off, eyeing the door top to bottom, his curiosity got the best of him, "Why the hell not."

Naruto jimmied the lock, again, forcing another door open. What he saw wasn't much of a surprise, a mop, a broom, and some boxes of crap. As he was turning something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. A small box, labeled volume one sat on the top shelf, squished in the corner. Naruto instantly reached for it, but was reduced to standing on his toes, due to his small stature. Finally being able to get the box down, he peeled away the packing tap to see what was inside.

Inside, the box was littered with old fairytale books, ranging from Snow White all the way to the Sage of the Six Paths. "What, Six Paths?" Naruto was confused, that was a shinobi story. He riffled through the books, tossing aside the undesirables like Cinderella, in hope of finding what he was looking for. "Holy shit," Naruto looked the remaining content. It was a full set of comics all pertaining to the ninja that had faced off against the samurai. Naruto was close to tears, "It has the next issue!" he quietly exclaimed in the dark hallway. All of a sudden his soreness and the stress and pain the day had caused seemed to evaporate. Naruto didn't care anymore, he had some reading to do.


End file.
